This blog is about a Special Education Resource Specialist Teacher.

Kids are Kids are Kids!

Look at these pictures and what do you see? You see kids playing, right? Okay, now hold on to that thought as I proceed with my post and as usual, I will bring it back around.

The other day I got a call from my former assistant, Ms.P. She called me because the mother of one of my former students died. As soon as Ms. P calls me with his number, I am going to call him. But, this post is not about this particular student, per se. It’s about kids, in general. It’s about all my students- former and current. Let me explain. My former school was in a high crime, poverty ridden area. When I assumed control of my last classroom, my former students were a rag-tag bunch of misfits with behavior problems. I had a time taming that bunch. However, by the time I finished my time with them, they were different people. In a good way, of course.

This leads me to my current class. When I assumed control of my current school, I was so happy because I thought I would NOT need to put in as much work with these students as I had with my last ones- in regard to motivation- since I now work at a private school. I thought the students would not need as much motivation. Well, that way of thinking was a big fat mistake because ALL children need motivation. Some need more than others, but all children need motivation. I think that may have been the reason why I was tired at the beginning of school. Firstly, I was surprised at the amount of work I needed to do to motivate some of the students. Secondly, what I was surprised about was the amount of work I needed to do to teach two separate grades. Even though I taught four grades at my last school, it’s not like I was really teaching four grades because they were mostly on the same level. I was basically teaching the students how to read and a little math. So teaching two grades- and really teaching all subjects- is totally different. It’s a LOT of work. But, I digress. Let me get back to the lecture at home because it’s time to take this post home. What I began the post with was the pictures of children playing. They’re from all different places: Palestine, an African village, and some other unknown place. But, where they’re from is not the important part. The important part is what they are doing. They are playing. It doesn’t matter that some are playing in the dirt or in a beautiful grass field. The thing is that they’re playing. That’s what kids do. Kids are the same no matter where they live. It doesn’t matter how rich, how poor or where they’re from. My mistake was thinking the location and/or the socio-economic status of my students would make a big difference in the amount of work and motivation I had to put in. I was wrong. It did not matter. I had to put in just as much work in this school as I had to put into my last school. So, I said all that to say that it really doesn’t matter where the kids are from because kids are kids no matter where you go. Underneath it all, we are all the same.